Unlike most people, Alexander
Palynchuk had a good sense of
his vocation early on. Now 87,
he recently showed a friend the
spot near Whitney Lakes, Alta.,
where, at age 12, he had resolved to
become an engineer.

His skills showed early. At 11, he
used simple tools to carve a scalemodel
plane from the wood of a
single tree. Born on a farm near Gorlitz, Sask., in 1927, Palynchuk
was raised in Lindbergh, a prairie town in east-central Alberta.

As a boy, he read every book in the Lindbergh School library,
according to a friend. In hindsight, it might have been a wise
move. As graduation neared, Palynchuk's high school teachers
threatened to hold back his diploma in view of his many absences during Grade 12.

He was not playing hooky. Recruited by his father in the
family business, Palynchuk was often too busy working to
attend class. As it turned out, he finished Grade 12 and got his
diploma, despite his teachers' threats.

Friends credit his business skills to his role in his dad's business.
At age 13, although unlicensed, he began delivering bulk oil by truck
to local farmers. Later, still licence-free, he delivered grain to the
local elevator. Tall for his age, he was never stopped by local police.

In 1951, at 24, Palynchuk received a mechanical engineering degree
from the University of Saskatchewan, later adding an economics degree.
For the next 15 years, he worked in the pipeline industry, eventually
becoming chief engineer for an Edmonton pipe manufacturer.

In 1965, Palynchuk founded Western Instruments Inc., now a leader
in ultrasonic testing of tube and pipe, and in manufacturing testing
systems, magnetic coils and pit gauges. In 1966, while consulting, he
began developing the coiled sucker rod (COROD) system that would later
replace conventional, jointed sucker rods in most producing oil wells.

Having invented COROD and the system used to deploy it,
Palynchuk commercialized the works, gaining 10 patents before
selling to General Electric in 1985.

Today, he is Western Instruments' president and chief
executive, exporting products worldwide from a facility near
Edmonton. He is also president of Tri-Coil Inc. In the community,
he has organized heavy oil symposia, improved library facilities
and re-tooled the science fair system in Alberta schools. A donor to
Rotary Clubs and the International Pressure Equipment Integrity
Association, he continues to develop innovations for industry.